Shorthanded
by CatchingDreams6
Summary: Shorthanded. Adjective. Having fewer than the usual number of people available. Much like hockey, when a pack is shorthanded, it cannot thrive. When new members join, they not only strengthen the pack, they also bring along new challenges. Which can be a good thing. Challenges also strengthen a pack. But what if those challenges are deadly?
1. Attacking Zones and Expensive Dresses

An attacking zone is the opposing team's end of the ice. You of course want to get there and score the goal, but it's very hostile territory. Hockey, I've realized, has many lessons that apply to real life. Just like hockey, you have to go into hostile territory a lot in life. It's scary and there's lots of obstacles, but if you stick with it, you eventually get your goal.

Beacon Hills is louder than I remember. Whether that's due to the fact that I've lived in a town of four thousand for six years or due to the fact that my childhood best friend, Stiles, is chattering in my ear has yet to be determined.

"Don't worry about that locker not opening, it sticks." I grit my teeth as Stiles speaks up again. I mess up my combination once and he acts like I've never opened a locker before.

"Most lockers do stick, buddy." I finally yank it open and stumble back a bit from the force of the metal door. A pair of hands steadies me easily.

"Honestly, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you almost dying." Scott McCall, one of my other best friends from elementary school, grins at me. I raise my eyebrow and smirk.

"And who said I wouldn't have caught myself?" Scott chuckles.

"The look of pure terror on your face said enough, Mer." I good-naturedly glare at him as I shove my books in my locker.

"So, which one of you is gonna show me to-" I glance at the schedule in my hands. "French?"

"That would be-"

"Me, actually." Lydia Martin, my third and final best friend from before I moved, walks up to my locker and interrupts Scott.

"And me." Allison, Scott's 'secret' girlfriend, chimes in. Apparently it's a long story as to why they have to hide their relationship, even though my money's on the simple 'parents don't like boy, boy and girl still date' cliche. I smile warmly at Allison. Even though moving back here from Belgarde Falls kind of sucks after making a life there, it's nice to be able to so seamlessly fit in with my old friends. Really the only thing that's changed about us is that everyone but Stiles, poor guy, lost our baby faces. Even Allison's accepted me into the group.

"Should we go then?" I ask. The two girls nod and we start walking down the hall.

"So, there's something you should know about our French teacher." I'm instantly intrigued by Allison's words. What, I love a little teacher drama every so often.

"Ooh, teacher drama. Tell me the latest scandal."

"She's a hopeless romantic. Which means that she's always getting in fights with her boyfriend for not 'loving her enough.' She usually hides behind a French textbook the whole time, crying and watching the Notebook," Ew. I crinkle my nose at the mention of that dumb romance movie every teen girl seems to love. "which means that we get to do whatever we want! So many kids try and sign up for the class, you're lucky you got in right now." I'm surprised that they would even still keep a teacher that acts like that. Lydia must have noticed my confused look, because she touches my arm.

"She's tenured. Trust me, it took us forever to figure it out too." We reach the door of the French classroom and walk in. Sure enough, the teacher's sitting behind a propped up French textbook. I walk up to her desk.

"Uh, hello?" I try and get her attention. A sullen looking lady with dull blonde hair sticks her head out and groans.

"Who are you?" She questions rudely.

"Meredith Maximoff? I'm new here." She moves her head once, almost completing a nod. "Oh. Go and sit down next to Isaac. Isaac!" A tall boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes glances up. "Move your stuff off that empty desk, the new kid needs to sit there."He makes a show out of moving his things, which makes me snort slightly before sitting in the now empty desk. I sling my bag around the back of the chair and glance at the boy next to me.

"Sorry for stealing your supplies' home." He raises an eyebrow at me. "Meredith."

"I'm guessing you already know that I'm Isaac, since Ms. Hemmings shouted it across the room."

"Actually, I thought that was your book's name. Imagine my shock when you ended up moving the book to your desk." He stares at me, fighting to keep his lips from quirking upwards.

"You're funny."

"And you're observant." I pull out my own French book only to realize that there's no assignment on the board and Ms. Hemmings is quietly crying. I lean back over to Isaac.

"So, what do we do in this class if there's no assignment?" Isaac looks at me and smiles.

"That's the point of being in this class, new girl." I glower at the nickname. "We don't do work. We just get automatic A's." I nod.

"That's certainly...different." I accidentally put my cheek in my hand and grimace.

"You okay?" Isaac asks, looking at me like I'm crazy.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I got hit in the face by a soccer ball last week. Left a nasty bruise, but apparently I'm better at makeup than you." I gesture with my chin to his matching bruise, sloppily covered with concealer. He stops and touches his own cheek before nervously laughing.

"I guess you are." I'm about to comment on how I covered mine up, hoping to maybe give him a tip or two, when a paper ball smacks the back of my head. I whip around and see Lydia sitting right behind me. I give her a befuddled look as she rolls her eyes and picks up the paper.

"What, never heard of note passing?" She asks. I shrug.

"We used to get away with sneaky texting at my old school." She passes me the ball.

"Open it, write a note, and then send it back."

"I know how these things work, Lyd." I smooth out the paper and read her neat handwriting, shielding the message from my nosy neighbor for the rest of the semester.

 _ **Why are you talking to Isaac?**_ It reads in her girly script. I quickly scribble a note back.

 _Because I can? Why do you care?_

 _ **Let's just say that Isaac isn't the most popular street to go down...**_

 _Did you seriously just tell me I can't talk to him because he's not popular._

 _ **...That sounded worse than I thought it would.**_

 _You think? You're forgetting that Stiles isn't too popular either, but he's our friend._ I scoff and toss the note back to her before pulling out my schedule again.

"What other classes do I have with you guys?" Lydia gingerly plucks the schedule from my desk.

"Allison and I in particular, or Stiles and Scott, too?"

"If you know theirs, then that'd be great." Lydia quickly scans through the list.

"Alright, so you have French with Alli and I, then you have chem with the four of us." She looks up at me. "Drama?" I shrug.

"Drama's an easy class. Besides, I was taking it at my old school and they made me finish it here."

"Well, none of us have that class."

"Oh, I do." Isaac speaks up and raises his hand slightly. "And I have chemistry with you guys." He looks at me and smiles slightly. "I can take you there after chemistry, Meredith." He says shyly when Lydia starts glaring at him.

"Thank you for that chivalry, Isaac. I know it must be hard for you to look up from the ground every so often." Isaac stares down at his desk and starts nervously tapping his fingers. He shoots up when the bell rings and walks quickly out of the room. I stand up and face Lydia.

"Lydia, that was kind of mean!" I exclaim, making room for Allison to stand next to us.

"Oh, don't worry about it, he knows I was joking." I huff and push my curly auburn hair out of my eyes.

"But does he really, Lydia? He didn't really look like it." She whirls around and grabs my hand.

"And why do you care, Meredith? You just met him." I'm getting really frustrated with Lydia right now. Yeah, I know that she's 'popular' but that doesn't mean that she has to be mean to other people. Besides, it's my first day, and I'm allowed to have more than four friends.

"I really don't want to get into a fight on the first day of school. Besides, you've been my best friend for years and this would be a really dumb thing to fight about." I'm lying through my teeth; of course I don't want Lydia to be mean. "Let's just go to Chemistry."We meet up with Stiles and Scott about halfway there. Stiles slings his arm around me.

"So, did you discover the joys of Ms. Hemming's French class?" He puts his other arm around Lydia and she wrinkles her nose before shrugging it off.

"Meredith also made a new friend." I roll my eyes.

"Can we shut up about that already, Lydia? I told you that I was just being friendly. Let's talk about, uh," I desperately search the halls for a poster of any sort, hoping to avoid a fight with my notoriously bloodthirsty cohort. "Lacrosse? I've never heard of a school that plays lacrosse."

"Well, you're hearing it now, sweetcheeks." Stiles says. I pick his hand up and remove it from my shoulder.

"Don't call me that."

"You got it." He says almost before I can get the sentence out.

"But we do play lacrosse here. I'm captain." Scott says proudly.

"Correction! Co-captain." Allison says.

"Oh, so mister high and mighty has to share captain duties? With who?" I shuffle through my bag and search for my Chemistry book.

"Jackson Whittemore." Scott says bitterly. "But don't you guys have weird sports in Minnesota? Like hockey and beaver hunting?" I lightly push Scott.

"Hockey, yes. Beaver hunting, no." I stop and think. "Okay, we actually do have beaver hunting permits, but it's not, like, a school sanctioned sport or anything. But hockey! That's _the_ sport! Oh, you should've seen our hockey team! We're the current state champions. And I got a natural Gordie Howe hat trick last season." I smile and laugh slightly. "Proudest moment of my life, let me tell you."

"'Natural Gordie Howe hat trick?' What's that?" Lydia asks.

"Scored a goal, notched an assist and got into a fight all in one period." I count them off on my fingers as I verbally list them.

"Wait." Scott starts.

"So that means.." Stiles begins.

"You play hockey?" Isaac comes up behind me, finishing the sentence. I grin at him, pleased that he was able to guess so quickly.

"Yeah, actually! Only girl on the team." Maybe I do want to toot my own horn on that.

"What position?" He asks. I look at him, surprised.

"You know hockey?" He nods.

"I know hockey too." Stiles mutters sullenly before slinking off to sit in his seat. Lydia lightly taps my shoulder.

"While all this small talk is..." She searches for a word. "Enlightening, I would suggest talking to Mr. Harris right now before the bell rings." I look towards the front of the room. There's a man, harmless looking enough, sitting there and grading papers.

"Why? He doesn't look too mean or anything." Lydia smirks and walks me over to the teacher's desk.

"Looks can be very deceiving, Meredith." She leaves me to fend for myself and I awkwardly clear my throat.

"Uh, hi! I'm new here. Meredith Maximoff?" I say unevenly as Mr. Harris stares me down. He sighs deeply and shuffles through a few more papers.

"Oh, I suppose I was alerted to a new student...I trust, by the looks of your grades and records, that you won't be too much of a nuisance in my class." He looks at me, the fires of hell within his eyes. No, I'm totally kidding, but he does have that scary teacher look down. I nervously laugh.

"Don't need to worry about me, Sir!" He looks around the room quickly.

"Go sit with Erica. She's right in the front, middle table." I nod again.

"Yes, Sir." I breathe deeply and quickly walk away from my intimidating Chemistry teacher, moving to place my books on the aforementioned table. A girl with wild, unkempt blonde hair and sweats on glares me down.

"Hello, I'm Meredith." She doesn't say anything, just huffs and turns to the front of the room. I quickly pull out my notebook once the bell rings and Mr. Harris stands up.

"Welcome to another day of your horribly boring lives, degenerates." My mouth is open slightly and I'm staring in shock at how horribly blunt the disgruntled teacher is.

"Now, as your little eyes that are used for texting and eye rolling can see, we have a new student." Everyone in the room shifts in their seats so they're facing my direction and I stare into my notebook, trying to burn holes in it with my eyes. "Introduce yourself." Mr. Harris prods. I glance up and cough slightly.

"Hi, I'm Meredith Maximoff. I used to live here, but then I moved to Minnesota. And now I'm back." I laugh dryly and look back down again. Mr. Harris claps his hands once, garnering everyone's attention, and moves to the front of the room.

"Now that we've got our dose of painful awkwardness for the day, it's time for painful pop quizzes." He smiles a sinister smile and gets a piece of chalk. The students all groan and I cast a confused look at Lydia. "Ms. Maximoff!" I jump at his sharp voice. "The atomic masses in the periodic table are not integral numbers. For example, carbon is listed as 12.011 amu instead of 12.000 amu. Why?" It's then that I realize that Beacon Hills is at least two, if not more, chapters behind then Belgarde Falls.

"Atomic masses listed in the periodic table are weighted averages of isotopic masses." I say confidently. Mr. Harris glowers before writing on the board.

"Correct. Stiles Stilinski! Oh, Stiles. How you disappoint me so." Stiles shifts in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with Mr. Harris' words. And so this continues for the rest of class. Mr. Harris would question people, they would either choke or get it right, and he would laugh at their misfortune. All in all, Chemistry does not leave a good impression on me.

Drama is boring. Isaac ends up darting out of class, so I get lost on my way there. We just watch some video about improv without actually doing improv. History is boring. Once again, my new school is far behind my old school. At least Allison is in this class, so that it's mildly fun. After the bell rings, we walk to the cafeteria together and get situated at the 'regular table.' Sure enough, Scott, Stiles and Lydia all show up within the next two minutes.

"So, I was thinking we could discuss Spring Formal plans." Lydia takes a bite out of an apple as I choke on my water.

"Spring Formal plans? Lydia, I just moved back, like, three days ago!"

"Exactly. This gives you the perfect opportunity to get back out on the scene."

"I don't even have my bed yet. I've been sleeping on a blow up mattress since we got here."

"Just because you've been sleeping on an air mattress doesn't mean you can't look good." She trills. Stiles and Scott both silently chuckle and I glare at them.

"Look, there'll be lots more dances from now until the time high school is over. I promise you that we will go to the next one." Lydia looks disgruntled, but she lets it slide. Thank God.

"So, are you going to go with anyone to the dance?" I ask, getting to Lydia's favorite topic; Lydia.

"Well, I was going to go with Jackson Whittemore, until he dumped me." I remember Jackson Whittemore. He was always super cocky and, by the looks of him tossing food across the cafeteria, he still is.

"You and Jackson were a thing?" Stiles makes a choking noise and laughs heartily.

"'Were they a thing?' You're lucky you didn't see them." Lydia stares at him and turns away.

"Anyways, Jackson broke up with me, so Stiles here is going to escort me to the dance." I pick at the pile of grapes on my tray, trying to find the least mushy one.

"Ooh, escort, sounds fancy."

"Scott's escorting me, I guess that's what we're calling it?" Allison smiles at Scott and kisses him quickly. The bell rings then, and we all stand at once, taking our trays over to the trash cans.

"Will you at least come over to my house after school and help Allison and I get ready for the dance?" I nod as Lydia stands with me at my locker.

"Sure! When's the dance?"

"Tonight." She says bluntly. I let out a puff of air.

" _Jesus_ Lyd, you asked if I would come to a dance three days after I moved?" I giggle at the clueless look on her face. "Of course I'll come over. Same address?"

"Yep! See you after school." She saunters away and it's then that I notice that Jackson's locker is directly opposite mine. Lydia sure knows the ways of the male gender, as evidenced by his longing look towards her swinging hips. There are times when I envy Lydia. The way that she can hypnotize the male gender just by knowing how to walk is one of those times.

Every other class is a blur. It's basically just the teacher saying that I can 'take it easy since it's my first day' and then finding out that this class is a few chapters behind the class I was in the process of taking at my old school. Needless to say, it's an extremely boring day. I drive across town in my little beaten up Chevy truck that made the trek from Minnesota to California.

Our house is in the hills and it's absolutely lovely. It's made of what looks like logs on the outside, but the house is fully furnished on the inside. We have a really big wraparound porch and we even have an inground pool. It's definitely nicer than our old house, and Dad said I can even freeze the pool into an ice rink when hockey season comes around. I walk up the steps and throw open the cherry wood door.

"Mother, I'm ho-ome!" I sing out, sliding into the kitchen. Mom's home early from work, and I can only assume that she must have finished her cases early. She's a lawyer and Dad's a pilot in the Air Force. We got orders back here, and it was a unanimous decision between my parents, myself, and my four younger siblings to buy a house in Beacon Hills.

"Hey, sweetie, how was school?" She turns around, a spoon full of oatmeal in her hand. My nine month old sister, Paisley, reaches for me and I pick her up and spin her.

"Hi there, baby! And how are we today?" I bounce her up and down as I grin at Mom. "It was pretty good! I found Scott, Stiles and Lydia and it was basically like I never left." I quickly make Paisley laugh and spoon the oatmeal into her mouth. "Is that yummy? Yes it is!"

"Oh, that's great! Dad's working 12's this week." I grimace and sit in a chair.

"So I thought it'd be fun if we just got a pizza and watched a movie tonight."

"About that." I drawl out. "Lydia and another friend of mine, Allison, are going to the Spring Formal tonight and they wanted me to help them get ready. I'm not going to go, of course, we moved here three days ago. But I said I'd help them. Is that okay? I'll be home before seven." Mom ponders this for a moment.

"Meredith, guess what happened at school today!" My twelve year old brother, Camden, jumps into the kitchen, touting Sadie, my eight year old sister, on his back.

"Did you get into a fight?"

"Surprisingly not. I won the spelling bee today."

"Whoa there, hotshot, way to take the school by storm. " I look back at Mom. "So, can I just run over there real quick? Lydia's address hasn't changed at all." Mom looks at me, then my sisters and brother before smiling.

"I guess you can run over there. Tell Lydia I say hi, though, alright?" I nod and set Paisley back into her highchair before hugging Mom.

"Thank you, love you!" I back out of the house before she has a chance to change her mind, ruffling Hunter's, my fourteen year old brother, hair really fast since it annoys him.

"Why? Why do you always do this?" He groans, fixing it back into that spiky style that most middle school boys seem to love.

"I do it out of love." I say before driving to Lydia's.

"So, why did Lydia buy you this expensive dress?" I ask Allison as she twirls in the mirror. Lydia's in her en suite bathroom, changing into her own dress, but not before she presented Allison with a very pretty dress of her own.

"She made out with Scott. Who, by the way, can't go to the dance because his grades suck."

"Damn." I mutter, nervously pulling a string on my own blue and white checkered dress. "But you didn't seem pissed at her today." I point out.

"Please, if I acted like I was mad then Scott and Stiles would try to force us to make up." She puts her hands on her hips and smooths the dress out.

"It'll happen, I know it will. Lydia doesn't seem to realize that she can't buy her friends, though." Lydia then walks out in a very pretty light pink dress with a black belt.

"So who's taking you to the dance, Alli?" She looks down at the ground.

"See, that's the funny thing. Jackson's taking me." I throw my head back and laugh.

"Yeah, it's funny when it's not your ex." Lydia says sharply. She loops her arm with Allison's and forces her to look in the mirror. "There. We're ready to go face our not-so Prince Charmings." I glance at Lydia's ornate clock. Six forty-five.

"Yeah, I had better be getting home. Mom'll need help putting Paisley and Sadie to bed." I hug my two friends tightly. Something's not right. I don't know what it is, and I don't know why I feel like something's wrong, but I just know. Something bad is going to happen. "Have fun, okay? And be safe."

It's ten o'clock when my feelings are confirmed. I hear a car pull up into the driveway and I throw the door open before the late night visitor can wake my siblings. There stands Stiles and Allison, looking frantic and disheveled.

"What's wrong?" I say immediately, ushering them inside.

"Lydia. There was an accident on the lacrosse field, and she got hurt. She's in the hospital."


	2. Body Checking and Idiot Boys

Body checking is when you use the hip or body to knock an opponent against the boards or to the ice. Yeah, it hurts a lot, and sometimes it can be hard to recover from. But that's one thing you learn from hockey. No matter how many times you fall and how long you're down, you always get back up again.

"Wait, are you serious?" I open the door wider and usher my friends in. "Lydia's actually in the hospital right now? What happened?"

"There was an animal attack, at least from what we saw." Dad walks into the threshold, a bowl of cereal in his hands.

"Who got attacked by an animal?" He asks.

"Lydia did, I guess. Do they know what kind of animal got her?" Stiles and Allison share a look and Allison grimaces.

"I saw something that looked like a wolf." Allison says.

"Yeah, and I was screaming and trying to find help. And maybe crying. But only a little bit, I swear." Stiles says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"That doesn't make sense." Dad says.

"What doesn't?" Stiles starts biting his lip.

"Wolves haven't lived in California since the fifties." He says through a mouthful of cereal.

"Could've been a cougar." I point out as I slip my shoes on.

"Maybe. Are you going to go to the hospital?"

"If that's okay with you? I'll be back before curfew, I just want to make sure she's okay."

"It's not my curfew, it's yours." Dad grabs my coat for me. "Go. Just please, please be back before curfew."

"Yeah, of course! Bye Dad." Allison, Stiles and I pile into Stiles' powder blue Jeep and speed towards the hospital. And by speed, I actually mean speed.

"Stiles, slow down! Her life is not on the line, it is not going to matter if we get there now or in five minutes." Allison says calmly. I, meanwhile, start screaming at him once the speedometer hits eighty.

"I do not care if your father is the sheriff! If you don't slow down right now- STILES IT'S A RED LIGHT YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US." I cover my eyes and let out a shriek as Stiles slams on the brakes. We all go flying forward and then back into our seats.

"Oh my God! Is everyone okay?" I push my hair out of my face again and adjust my seat belt so that it's not choking me.

"Super duper!" Allison giggles.

"You had better pray to God that we make it to the hospital alive or else I will rise up from Hell and haunt you forever, Stilinski."

"G-good thing we're turning in to the parking lot right now." Stiles bounds out of the Jeep and holds the door open for Allison and I.

"Ass kisser." I whisper to him as he flips me off. We walk through the doors and are quickly greeted by Scott's mother, Melissa.

"Hi, kids. Lydia's stable right now, but she's sleeping." Mrs. McCall reads from a chart. "Meredith, it's nice to see you again! Scott had mentioned that you were back in town." She smiles at me.

"Yeah, Dad got orders, so we packed up and moved back."

"How is everyone? Your parents, brothers, sister?" God, awkward grown up talk is the worst.

"They're good. I actually have another sister now. Paisley. She's nine months old."

"Oh, that's a precious name! I'll take you guys to her room."

Lydia looks like a wreck. There's cuts and bruises all over her porcelain skin, and she's got bulky bandages wrapped around her torso. I stay for an hour before I have to go home before curfew. It's not like I was missing out on anything. Just a sleeping Lydia and Stiles ogling her.

Sunday is not very much fun. Allison asked if I wanted to meet her after my family got done with church so that we could get something for Lydia. Instead of quietly going around town, it's everyone staring at Allison and I, Lydia's best friends, as we walk through the mall and look for a dress for Lydia to leave the hospital in, and asking what happened to her. Not like we know, though. Stiles' dad wouldn't tell him anything.

"Is it weird being back here after so many years?" Allison swings her bag around.

"I guess. It's more weird seeing everyone all grown up than anything."

"Now that you're back, I realize that, I'm kind of the replacement you, in a way, if that makes sense?"

"You kind of are. But if anyone had to replace me, I'd rather it be you." Allison puts a hand to her chest in mock flattery.

"That's probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." She wipes away a fake tear.

"I live for being so nice that people cry. It's what I do best."

"Hey, I'm gonna go grab something to eat. Wanna come with?"

"You go get food, I'm gonna pop into Macy's. Lydia likes Macy's, and they're having a sale. Win-win for everyone." Allison and I part ways; She heading towards the food court and I moving for the store that is basically Lydia's church.

"So, how's it feel braving the halls without Lydia?" A quiet voice asks behind me. Stiles hasn't been with us at all this weekend, he said he wanted to be there when Lydia woke up. Allison's still nowhere to be found and it's been ten minutes.

"Hey, Isaac." Isaac moves next to me and we walk together. "I've handled six years without her, trust me, I can handle a day." Isaac shrugs.

"I don't know, you never know what could be lurking in these hallways."

"Very true. Who knows, maybe whatever attacked Lydia could be just." I lean closer to Isaac's ear and lower my voice. "Around. The corner." I move away from him and grin. "But that's just my theory. Have a nice day, Isaac." I laugh at the stunned look on his face and go to find Allison.

Stiles calls me right when Lydia wakes up.

"Stiles, she's fine. Besides, I'm in the middle of homework right now." No I'm not.

"No, you're not! You've been complaining about how Beacon Hills is way behind your old school since yesterday!" I roll my eyes.

"Fine, Stiles, I'll be there."

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, missy!" He says sternly. I stare at my phone, befuddled.

"You can't hear an eye movement!"

"I can hear your voice, and your tone implies an eye roll. So get you and your rolling eyes down to the hospital, please!" He adds on at the end. I hit the end button, not bothering to say bye, and grab my car keys.

Stiles and Lydia have appeared to switched states, I note when I get outside of Lydia's room. He's crashed out on a row of plastic chairs, a 'get well' balloon tied above him.

"How long has he been here?" I ask Melissa as she does nurse rounds.

"Since this morning." Melissa says bluntly. "Lydia's asking for you." I open the door at Melissa's signal and walk in.

"Hey, Lydia, how's it going? How you feeling?" I ask awkwardly. She still looks horrible, and now her hair's gone flat and dull.

"Like shit, Meredith, thanks for asking." She shakily stands.

"I'm going to take a shower." Her father reaches for her.

"Need any help?" Lydia shoots a stone cold glare at him.

"Maybe if I was four and still taking bubble baths." She snaps. I whistle lowly and she squeezes my shoulder on her way to the bathroom. "Thanks for the backup commentary." She glares at her dad one more time before slamming the door, and I take that as my cue to leave.

Stiles is still sleeping when I walk out, and he says something along the lines of 'you're dirty' in his sleep. Unfortunately to him, a lovely janitor is emptying the trashcan beneath his head. In the midst of laughing at the situation Stiles is in, I see a very old, very decrepit man walking down the hall. He's in a hospital gown, and he's missing an I.V.

"Hey, Melissa?" I grab her arm without looking away from the man.

"What is it?"

"Is that old guy supposed to be out of his room?" The man stops at my mentioning him and waves.

"Are you feeling okay, sweetheart?" She grabs my face and looks it over. "There's no one there." Sure enough, when I look back, he's gone. I shake my head and laugh.

"Y'know, maybe it's just the fact that I did a giant move a week ago." Melissa nods and runs her hand in a mothering way down my cheek.

"Go home and get some sleep after this, okay?" Stiles then jolts awake and accidentally punches the balloon in his confusion.

"Wha-how's Lydia?" He mumbles.

"She's fine. Sassy as ever. Where's Allison and Scott?" Stiles shrugs.

"No clue. Wanna go get vending machine food while we wait for Lydia?"

"Sure, why not. But only if you buy me a pack of gummy bears." I joke.

"Yeah, of course." He says seriously.

"Stiles, it's a joke. I have my own dollar, I promise you that." I loop my arm in his. "Let's go get some junk food."

The proudest moment of my life used to be the natural Gordie Howe hat trick. That all changes the moment I stick a dollar in the vending machine and two bags of gummy bears fall out. I can almost feel Barney Stinson smiling down on me at this moment. I smack Stiles on the shoulder and hold the packages in the air.

"'One dollar, two bags of gummy bears! It's like, I don't even care what happens for the rest of the day.'" I quote and pop a gummy bear in my mouth. Stiles just looks at me. "What, you've never seen How I Met Your Mother?"

"No." I shake my head condescendingly.

"You, my friend, have much to learn." He moves past me.

"Just shut up and let me get my candy." Stiles yawns and pops a coin in the vending machine. In true Stiles fashion, however, the peanut butter cups get stuck. He huffs and pounds on the glass.

"Seriously?" It's then that he starts shaking it.

"Stiles? I don't think that's a good idea." I stand back as he begins moving it drastically from side to side. Instead of being a good friend and helping him, I stand back and eat my candy, like a best friend does.

"It'll work, I promise." He lets it go, backs up and does one last pull. It crashes to the floor and he jumps out of the way, grabbing me in the process. My eyes widen as I take in the busted vending machine.

"Did anyone see that?" I ask quietly, glancing around the hallway.

"I don't think so." Stiles does the same.

"Well, might as well get your Reese's. Help me get this." We're stopped by a piercing scream that echoes through the hospital.

"Lydia?" Stiles and I say at the same time before bolting to her room. Stiles, Mr. Martin, Melissa and I all burst into her room to find nothing but an empty room and an open window, her obvious escape route.

Stiles and I trail behind Melissa, Mr. Martin and Sheriff Stilinski. The Sheriff asks if she really is nude or not, and then asks for a few descriptors. I roll my eyes when Stiles jumps towards his father.

"She's five three, green eyes, fair skin and her hairs actually strawberry blonde." Sheriff Stilinski looks to me for confirmation.

"It's true. She'd scratch your eyes out if she heard you call her a redhead."

"Meredith, Stiles mentioned you were back."

"Yeah, so did everyone else's parents." The Sheriff smiles slightly before turning to his son.

"Is that right?" Stiles nods and Sheriff grabs him by the neck and moves him forward. "What are you still doing here?" He asks lowly.

"Just providing moral support."

"How about you provide your ass back home, where it should be." I hold back a laugh at his words.

"You get home too, Meredith. It's a school night." I hold my hands up in surrender.

"Hey, I have permission to be here." Nonetheless, Stiles and I walk off, nonchalantly going right past the broken vending machine. Once we get in the elevator, Stiles pulls out Lydia's bloodied hospital gown. My eyes widen and I snatch it from him.

"What the hell are you doing?" He exclaims.

"What the hell am I doing? What the hell are you doing? Stiles, this is police evidence!"

"Yeah, and I know a guy that can analyze this."

"Hm, does that guy work for the police?" I say sarcastically as we walk out of the hospital.

"Just go home, Mer." He gets in his Jeep and it's then that I notice Scott.

"Wait, what's Scott doing here?" Allison jumps into the car too. "Allison?" They drive off before I can approach them. "Fine, just go have a search party without me! Whatever!" I stomp back to my car, muttering the whole time. "Great, thanks friends! I love being back here in Beacon Hills!"

The rest of the night is pretty quiet. I'm back home before curfew, much to my father's surprise, and I actually try and go to sleep at a godly hour. It doesn't work, of course, because I'm an insomniac. Dad says I get it from Aunt Lola, his older sister. She can never sleep at night either, says she has too much going on in her mind. I've adapted, though, and learned to not be tired when I only get three hours of sleep in a night.

There's twenty more rumors in the morning when I get to school. Isaac got trapped in an empty grave, Lydia ran off to live life as a nudist, Scott almost got hit by a car, Allison is going to her crazy dead serial killer aunt's funeral today, y'know, just everyday things. I decide not to stop by her locker and go to French instead. Ms. Hemmings is in a much better mood today, judging by the smile on her face, the lack of a propped up textbook, and French words on the board. Allison shoots me a look from across the room and mouths 'we need to talk after class!' I shrug.

"What, about your secret search party?" I whisper to her, pretending to get up and grab a pencil from her.

"Yes, actually. We didn't mean to leave you out, there's just...certain things that you don't know about right now. Things that you can't exactly know about but that we can try and explain. If you'll let us, of course." I ponder this for a moment before the obvious answer pops up.

"Alright. But we can't do it right after this class, we have a quiz in Chem, remember?" A look of horror appears on her face as she realizes that we do, in fact, have a quiz today. I slip into my seat right as the bell rings and start conjugating French verbs.

Stiles gets detention. And let me tell you, he crashes and burns on his way to a spot. He thought it would be a good idea to talk to Scott about the Lydia situation while we were taking a test, then accidentally sassed Mr. Harris. Funny class for Allison, Scott and I, not so fun for Stiles. Of course, due to the hierarchy of rich families that's installed in all schools, Jackson suddenly leaves the room and Mr. Harris hardly even questions him. That's just the way the cookie crumbles, though. Soon enough, Allison and I are walking to History together.

"Look, I know that you're still kind of mad about us leaving you behind last night, but you couldn't have come."

"Why not, Allison? We're all friends, I should get to do this stuff too."

"And we wanted you to come, it's just that my father is a...hunter, and only I know where the traps are. It's hard enough having to keep Scott and Stiles away from them, I didn't want you to have to worry about Lydia and the potential hazard of getting your leg chopped off." She does have a point. Scott and Stiles are insane when they're together, and it's hard to be around them at times.

"Alright. Maybe you'll just have to show me the traps one day, then, so that I can keep Stiles from losing a limb and you can keep an eye on your boyfriend." Allison laughs.

"Deal."

Scott calls me at five o'clock, right when I'm in the middle of baking cookies with Camden.

"What's up, Scott Dearest?"

"Wanna go crash Kate Argent's funeral with Stiles and I?" I wedge my phone between my shoulder and ear, trying to put the cookie dough onto the tray.

"Scott, that's illegal! Why do you and Stiles always seem to think you're exempt from the rules just because Stiles' dad is the sheriff? There's only so much trouble you can get into before you go to prison!"

"So is that a no?" He says after a slight pause.

"Yes, Scott, it does. I'll call Allison after the funeral and make sure she's okay. Have fun breaking the law, Scott."

"Yeah, well have fun not breaking the law!" He chimes in as I hang up. Camden glances at me, cookie dough dotting the corners of his mouth.

"That sounded interesting." He says slowly.

"Look, I'm not a part of it, so there's no reason to worry. Now!" I open the oven door. "Let's get these bad boys in the oven so that you can eat without having to sneak it from me." His eyes widen and I nod. "Big sister intuition. Watch your back."

Half an hour later, it's Stiles calling me. "Meet us in the woods behind Old Mill Lane!" He yells out.

"Why? Are you fugitives?" Camden tries to sneak a fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie and I slap his hand.

"No. We found Lydia!"

"What?" I've already got my coat on then.

"Is she okay? I'll be there in ten minutes tops!"She's actually not there, and Stiles is just using me as a cover so that he doesn't get in trouble.

"Sheriff, I was at home with my brother!" Thankfully he does take my word. I'm about to speak again when Stiles stops and stares into the woods.

"Lydia?" She's shaking, there's leaves in her hair and she is, in fact, butt naked. "Lydia!" She doesn't look up.

"Lydia!" Stiles and I shout at the same time. My best friend finally looks up, tears in her eyes.

"Well, is anyone gonna get me a coat?" She holds her hands up then, and I immediately bound towards her.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, wrapping my coat and scarf around her.

"Don't answer that. I'm just glad you're okay." Stiles is on the ground, apparently stunned at seeing boobs.

"Come on, Ms. Martin. Let's get you some actual clothes." Sheriff Stilinski takes her by the arm and loads her into a squad car. I haul Stiles up and lean him against the ambulance.

"Stiles? Yoohoo? Earth to Stiles?" He shakes his head.

"Yes?"

"Where's Scott?" He looks around wildly for a second before blushing and grinning sheepishly.

"That would be good information to know, wouldn't it?"


	3. Cages and Full Moons

The cage is the metal grid that attaches to the front of a helmet to protect the face. These started popping up on goalie masks in the late seventies and early eighties when goalies started realizing that they could actually do something to protect against the injuries that had become daily when playing hockey. You can always do something to protect against injuries of all kinds. It just matters how far you're willing to go to completely shield yourself.

I hate driving at night. There's too many animals that you can't see and people that don't know how to turn their brights down. I'm always just skittish when I drive at night. Pouring rain doesn't help my situation much, either. So when the rain starts pouring down as I'm driving through the near deserted town, I groan loudly.

"Of course this happens! Now the only thing that could make tonight worse is-" I screech and slam on the brakes as a guy on a bicycle darts in front of my car. I open my door and step out, looking at the guy who's laying on the ground.

"Did I hit you? Please tell me I didn't hit you!" The man looks up. "Isaac? What the hell are you doing riding your bike in the pouring rain?" Isaac grabs his bike and jumps up quickly.

"I have to go. You didn't hit me, I'm fine, or, I hope so. Please just go home, Meredith."

"Isaac! What's wrong?" Isaac starts shaking his head back and forth.

"My father. My dad is- I just need to go!" He jumps on the bike and starts pedaling away, ignoring my shouts. I smack the hood of my car in anger, running a hand through my rain soaked hair.

"I can give you a ride!" I say in a last-ditch effort. It's raining, he's on a bicycle, and there's obviously something up with his dad. I'm not heartless! "Whatever." I mutter. "I'm gonna miss curfew if I follow him." I grudgingly get back in my car, figuring that whatever is going on in his life will resolve by morning.

Morning does come, sunny and without a hint of any of last night's rain clouds in the sky. Lydia, Allison and I stand outside the doors of school.

"You really don't remember anything? Not even Stiles almost passing out from joy?" Lydia shakes her head.

"They called it a fugue state, which is basically their way of saying 'we have no idea why you can't remember running through the woods naked for two days.'" She shrugs. "But, personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds!" Allison laughs slightly.

"You ready for this?" She asks.

"Please. It's not like my aunt's a serial killer." My jaw drops at Lydia's low blow, and I turn to look at Allison's reaction. She's standing stone faced and gives me a tight lipped smile as we walk into the school.

We then immediately stop once everyone starts staring at Lydia.

"Maybe it's the nine pounds." Allison whispers after a tense silence. I stifle a giggle and stand up straight.

"Come on, Lyd, walk like you own this place." She nods.

"Walk like I own the place." Lydia repeats. "I own the place."

"There you go. Now let's get to class." Lydia and I saunter down the hall, Allison following behind us.

Scott and Stiles run up to the three of us after French.

"Isaac's a-" Stiles starts, his sound getting muffled once Scott slaps a hand over Stiles' mouth. I raise my eyebrows.

"He's a what?"

"A person who is very much in trouble right now. Isaac got arrested." I gasp.

"What did he do?" I whisper. This is probably the strangest gossip I've ever taken part in.

"His dad died last night, apparently he was murdered. Isaac's the prime suspect." My mind immediately flashes back to our little exchange last night.

"Oh my God." I mutter.

"What?" Stiles asks, finally free of Scott's grasp.

"I almost hit Isaac with my car last night, he kept just stuttering about his dad and how he had to go. What if he was trying to get away from the murder scene?" My four friends share a look.

"Don't tell the cops this, alright? We'll discuss after class." While this is exciting, I certainly hope that I didn't hear a murderer's incriminating conversation last night.

Stiles, instead of waiting until after class to discuss, ends up talking to Scott all through Chemistry. I love the boy to death, but he does not know how to whisper at all. Surprisingly enough, that's not the thing that gets him sent to the office.

"Turn to page 73." Mr. Harris drones while writing on the board. A paper ball goes flying across the room and smacks him in the head. I can hear faint laughter through the room as he stiffens and turns. "Who in the hell did that?" We all turn in our seats to see Stiles and Scott point at each other. I roll my eyes. Of course they did that. After they get sent to the office, we do finally turn back to page 73 and get started on the questions written on the page.

Stiles got detention, Scott ran off with some guy named Derek, Jackson was a jerk to Lydia and he told Sheriff Stilinski that Isaac's dad beat the crap out of him regularly. This is the news after school that Allison gives me as we walk to our cars.

"So is Isaac in jail?" I ask.

"At the moment, yes. Scott's really concerned, so he and Stiles are going to talk to the Sheriff and see if they can get him out." I fumble for my keys and finally grab them, hitting the unlock button on my key fob.

"So that's their plans for tonight. You going with them?"

"No, I'm just going to hang out at home. Meredith?" Allison calls right before I shut my door.

"Yeah?"

"Stay home tonight, alright?"

"Why?" Allison shrugs.

"It's a full moon." She says nothing more and gets in her own car, driving away. I narrow my eyes and scoff.

"How did this town get so freaking weird in six years?" I grumble.

"...And so I'm walking up the steps to go meet the Dalai Lama, and I end up tripping over the robes I was given!" I hear an airy voice laugh as I walk into my house. Only one person that I know who has these stories.

"Aunt Lola!" I squeal, running into the living room. My aunt Lola, Dad's sister, is a short, blonde hair, blue eyed beach babe. She travels the world now and always has the neatest stories...and presents, but you can't just outright say that about a person. She stands up and smoothes out her funky patterned dress, and I run into her arms. "Hey! How long are you in town for?"

"Just a few days. My plane flew into San Francisco so I decided that I might as well come and visit my favorite brother that lives in California!"

"I'm your only brother that lives in California." Dad says good naturedly as he comes through the front door, just having gotten off work. He walks to Aunt Lola and I and kisses her on the cheek. "Hi, Lola. Where are you back from this time?"

"Tommy, so nice to see you too!" She pinches his cheek and he groans. " I actually just got back from Ethiopia, but I did go to India and France! Which reminds me," Out of nowhere, Hunter, Camden and Sadie all appear, knowing the drill by now. Aunt Lola smirks and pulls her handwoven bamboo bag towards her. "Present time!"

Sadie gets a beautiful pearl hair clip from the Dead Sea, Camden receives a cast of an actual skull that's found in the catacombs under Paris, Hunter is given a leather jacket that was made from a wildebeest, and I get a beautiful necklace made out of some sort of silver colored metal and a shimmering amethyst stone in the center.

"Oh, it's gorgeous, Aunt Lola! Where did you get this?" I lift my hair up and allow her to clasp the jewelry around my neck.

"This was actually made by a very dear friend of mine that lives in Nepal. She made my necklace for me, too, many years ago." She grabs her own necklace, made of gold metal, and strokes her thumb over the opal gem. "We'll chat more after supper, yeah? What is for supper, Tatiana?" Mom scoffs.

"Please, Thomas and Meredith are the cooks in this house. We're having the house specialty tonight."

"Pizza!" Camden and Sadie cheer. Paisley claps her hands and giggles at her older siblings' excitement.

Two hours and five boxes of pizza later, I'm gathering up all the empty boxes and plates.

"Here, let me help you with this stuff." Aunt Lola grabs the paper plates from my hands. "Let's take this stuff outside, and then I'll get going." We walk out the door together and throw the stuff away.

"Meredith?" Aunt Lola asks.

"What is it?" I wrap my cardigan tighter around me and shiver, letting my eyes dart towards the trees. I can hear something howling in the distance, and I start to wonder if maybe a pack of coyotes or wolves got Lydia instead of just one. It's actually very rare that it's a case of the 'lone wolf,' so really that's the only logical option.

"Melissa told me about what happened to you in the hospital." I groan and roll my eyes. Melissa, Aunt Lola and Mom all went to college together. That's how Mom and Dad met, actually.

"It was nothing! I was just sleep deprived, it didn't mean anything."

"Honey, you're like a mini-me. Even when it comes to the insomnia and shakiness," She holds up her own hand and grabs mine as well, and we both observe the involuntary quaking of our hands. "But, do you want to know what else is the same about us? Do you want to know why we both have insomnia and shakiness?"

"You're kind of freaking me out here." I nervously laugh. She leans in towards me.

"I see dead people too." My eyes widen even more, if that's humanly possible, and I wrench my hand away from her.

"What the hell do you mean, 'I see dead people too?' That guy wasn't dead! He wasn't even real! And you can't see dead people anyways! This isn't The Sixth Sense or something like that, Aunt Lola, this is real life. Stuff like that doesn't happen." I hiss.

"The world is a lot stranger, and a lot scarier, than you could even begin to imagine." She glances at her watch. "It's late, I should probably get going. Tell your parents that I'll stop by tomorrow, okay?" She gets into her car as I stare at her in bewilderment. "And honey?" She calls me back once I start walking away. "Stay inside tonight, alright? It's a full moon."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I yell after she's gone. Huffing, I turn around and stalk inside.

"Where's Lola, Mer Bear?" Mom calls from the bathroom where she's putting Paisley in pajamas.

"She said she had to go, that she'd be back tomorrow." I mumble. "Hey, Mom?" I say as an afterthought.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Has...Has Aunt Lola ever had a ghost experience, at least that you know about?" Mom looks up at me.

"No, not that I've heard. Why?" I shrug.

"No reason. Night, Mom."

"Good night, sweetheart."

I bolt my bedroom door behind me and grab my laptop. I start googling the only words that come to my head. 'Seeing ghosts,' 'supernatural experiences,' 'powers that let you see ghosts,' and 'things affected by the full moon.'

Not a lot comes up, needless to say. Well, unless you count Haley Joel Osment, ghostbusters and werewolves as progress. If nothing comes up on Google, then that means that it can't be real, right?

Maybe Aunt Lola is just my crazy aunt, but maybe she's something more. It doesn't make sense that she says that seeing dead men, not being able to sleep and shaky hands connects with the unexplained. Even if I can just dismiss this as a crazy episode, then what explains the fact that two people told me to be safe tonight? Nothing adds up, except for one thing; Beacon Hills is definitely not what it used to be.


	4. Dekes and Ice Skating Rinks

A deke is when a player handles the puck or himself in such a manner to fool the opponent into moving out of position, allowing the player to get past. This is often accomplished by acting like you're going to shoot one way and instead skating in the opposite direction. Faking people out becomes a necessity, especially when you're behind and you need to get what you want.

Gym class has always been one of my favorite classes. While other kids complain about climbing the rope and doing the rock wall, I would be the first to volunteer. Having gym with my friends is even more fun for me, especially when Allison knocks Scott off the wall. He hits the mat with a thud and groans, causing everyone, even Coach Finstock, to laugh. Stiles is up next, along with my lab partner, Erica. Stiles is there and back in a minute, but Erica starts shaking and crying a quarter of the way up. We all crowd around the mat and stare up at her.

"Erica! Dizzy? Is it vertigo?" Coach Finstock hollers up. Lydia rolls her eyes and scoffs.

"Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out." However bluntly Lydia put it, I have to agree with her. Erica is truly freaking out.

"Erica!"

"I'm fine!" Erica finally chokes out, trying to climb even higher.

"Coach, maybe it's not safe, you know she's epileptic." I say.

"Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff!" Coach huffs. "Erica, you're fine, just kick off from the wall, there's a mat to catch you." We all watch as she finally lowers herself down. People start laughing at her.

"Knock it off, how would you feel if someone laughed at what you were scared of?" I retort. Coach lets us go change early and we all head to the locker rooms.

"I heard your aunt was in town." Lydia says as she fixes her hair in the mirror.

"Yeah. I love her, but she's a little odd. Y'know, Allison, she said the same thing as you, about it being a full moon and all." Allison walks over to Lydia and I.

"Maybe it's just-" We're cut off by a commotion from the gym. I run out of the locker room to see Erica shaking from a seizure halfway up the wall. She falls and I gasp as Scott catches her, appearing out of nowhere. He lays her down on the ground and she continues to seize.

"Put her on her side!" Allison commands. Scott does so and holds onto her hand while Coach calls an ambulance.

"Did you hear that Isaac broke out of jail last night?" I ask at lunch. Erica got sent off to the hospital and we all went back to our day. Apparently she gets seizures pretty regularly, so no one even seems to care anymore. Allison and Lydia do one of those secretive glances that I've come to hate.

"I did, yeah. Have they caught him yet?" Allison taps her fingers along the table.

"Not that I've heard."

"Jackson grabbed me in the hall again." Lydia blurts suddenly.

"Oh no, not again! Why this time?" I try and sympathize with her.

"He said that I apparently ruined the last year for him. But whatever. I don't care, because I'm having a pretty great year." She gives a tight smile at us and starts viciously picking apart her salad. Stiles comes into the lunch room, looking very spy-like, and sits down next to Boyd, a tall, muscle-y kid in my English class.

"What's Stiles doing this time?" I say flatly.

"He's getting the keys from Boyd so that we can go skating tonight. Boyd runs the zamboni there…" Lydia trails off and looks at something above my head. I turn in my chair and look, along with the whole lunchroom, as Erica walks in. This isn't Erica, however. This Erica is wearing loads of eye makeup, a short skirt, a revealing top and a leather jacket. Lydia smacks her hand against the table and gets up, walking to Stiles and Scott's table. Allison and I watch in confusion as half the boys swoon when Erica takes a bite of an apple before walking out of the room. Almost like a spell, conversation returns to normal the second she leaves.

" _Anyways_ ," Lydia hisses as she sits back down. "Boyd runs the zamboni. Do you want to come skate tonight?" I shrug.

"Sure. I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity to go skating. Funny thing is, though," I reach in my bag and pull out my own set of keys. "I have special perks from the rink. Including my own keys for whenever I need to practice." Allison laughs loudly and I grin impishly before tossing them back in my bag. "But Stiles doesn't need to know that."

We meet up at Allison's house, to 'pamper and prep,' at least those were Lydia's words. We're all laughing at an impression of Jackson that Allison was doing when her dad comes into the room. The laughter dies down suddenly and we all awkwardly smile.

"Heading out?" He asks.

"Studying." Allison lies. Lydia and I glance at each other. Mr. Argent gestures with his head and Allison sighs before walking out with him.

"Meredith! Take a selfie with me!" Lydia declares. I move next to her and we both do outrageous poses at her phone, barely able to hold in our laughter. Allison comes back in after a minute or so.

"Who's ready to go skate?"

Stiles dramatically unlocks the doors and flicks the lights on, and we all move in. I lace up my well-worn skates and take the protectors off of them, listening to Lydia complain about the cold.

"Here." Stiles pulls out a hideous orange scarf.

"I'm wearing blue." Lydia explains. "Orange and blue? Not a good combination."

"But it's the colors of the Mets." Stiles stutters.

"Mets are trash, Stiles!" I yell out, smirking at his groan.

"Shut up, you Red Sox fan!" I stick my tongue out at him before standing up and walking to the ice, pausing briefly before gliding onto it. That's one thing about ice that I love. It always feels like home to me. Lydia skates ahead of Stiles and starts spinning.

"Hey, Mer, remember when we were eight and taking skating classes together?" Lydia calls as she turns even faster. I grin.

"Yes! Can you still do the jumps?"

"I can only do a triple axle. Let me guess, you can do a lot more?" I efficiently pull off a triple lutz and wink at a stunned Stiles.

"You guys were in skating class together?"

"Way back when, yeah." We're interrupted by a banging sound. I turn to see Scott lying on the ground and looking dazed.

Scott and Allison go off to do God knows what, and I end up bringing out a spare puck and my hockey stick. I skate down the ice, juggling the puck back and forth.

"How do you manage to make it look so easy?" Stiles asks.

"I don't know, it just comes naturally. Here, you wanna try?" I hand him my stick and he crouches down. "No, you don't need to bend down! Just bend your knees a little bit and skate." Stiles is getting the hang of puck handling after a few misfires when I hear a sharp scream. Lydia's sitting on the ice and screaming at nothing.

"Lydia!" Stiles falls next to her and grabs her, trying to snap her out of it. I put my hands over my mouth as she tries to crawl away when Scott and Allison come through the doors. "She just started screaming. I don't know what's going on!" Allison and Scott slide onto the ice and come to a stop next to me.

"Lydia!" I yell, shaking her. "Lydia, snap out of it!" She's still just staring at the ice and screaming. I roll my eyes and grab her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "Lydia, stop. There's nothing wrong. You're at the ice rink, alright?" She finally seems to come out of it once her eyes actually focus on me.

"Meredith?" She questions, taking in the situation. "What happened?" The four sane ones look at each other.

"You just started freaking out. You were screaming and staring at the ice. You seriously don't remember?" Scott asks her. Stiles and I help her stand as she shakes her head.

"Maybe a fugue state is a recurring thing." She mumbles, looking at the one spot that she had been sitting in.

"Lydia?" I say gently. "I think we've had enough skating for tonight, don't you?" We all agree quickly and go to take our skates off.

"You gonna be okay driving home?" I ask her later.

"I'll be fine, I'm sure! It's already been half an hour, I'm okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She reassures before getting in her car. And for the first time, I'm actually worried for my friend. It takes a lot to shake her, and she's been very visibly shaken twice in the past week. Something's up with her too, and I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the town of Beacon Hills itself.

"Do you really think that Lydia's just experiencing a series of fugue states, or do you think it might be something more...not as real sounding?" I ask Allison as we walk down the hall the next day.

"What do you mean, 'not as real sounding?'" She asks after a moment.

"There's something weird going on with a lot of people lately, and I'm starting to think that, instead of finding actual answers, we might have to turn to things that people don't traditionally think as real. Things in myths and legends."

"So, what do you think Lydia would be, then, if we really are focusing on fantasy?" I think for a moment.

"Maybe one of those mermaids, whose voice lures men to their deaths? I don't really know exactly what she would be, but it would be something to do with her voice. Her screech is just so ear piercing, it would have to involve the screech." Allison grabs my arm and pulls me to a stop as we both take in the sight of Scott, backed against the lockers as Erica leans dangerously close to him.

"C'mon, you don't need to see this." I start walking away, knowing that she'll eventually follow. She does, and I reassuringly smile at her. "You okay?" Girls, as most know, will explode if you say the right words. Allison sighs in frustration.

"No. He always does this stuff, always gets caught in situations like this." I shrug.

"Don't get jealous, really. Erica's kind of turned into a bitch now, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew about you and Scott and decided to try and be a homewrecker." Allison thinks.

"Maybe you're right."

"I'm always right. Hey, I have hockey tryouts next week." I say in an attempt to change the subject.

"Beacon Hills has a hockey team?"

"No, I have to drive the half hour to San Francisco. But I don't mind, I'm just excited to play."

"And you're trying out for the boys team?" I nod.

"Yeah. Here's the thing though, that's gonna make things tough. They don't care that I was already on the boys team. People try and spin any lie to knock down my playing abilities. It's gonna be rough, but I think I can do it." The bell rings and a collective groan rings through the hallway. "See you after school, okay?" I hike my bag further up my shoulder and walk to Trig.

After school, I decide to head to the ice rink for a little extra practice before tryouts next week. The door's already unlocked, so I just assume that Boyd's working. We've become friendly over the past few weeks, he knowing my routine and I knowing his.

"Hey, Boyd." I smile as I come out of the locker room with my jersey on. Since it's just me today, I didn't bother to dress in my pads or anything. "Didn't see you at school today." I comment. Boyd looks up from where he's picking up trash from under the bleachers.

"Decided to take a sick day and get some extra cash. I'm running the zamboni at five." He's not one for words, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

"I'll be out of my skates by five then." The next few hours fly by. I work myself really hard whenever I practice, and this is no different. Between sharpening my skating skills and testing how quick I can pivot to trying out a few spin-o-ramas, which I've been dying to use since I watched Patrick Kane do it at a Blackhawks vs. Wild game, I don't even realize what time it is until I hear the zamboni garage open. I turn on my skates and push a few stray hairs out of my eyes.

"Is it really already fi-you're not Boyd." I say simply as two figures walk out from the garage. Well, one figure is Boyd. The other is some rough and tough looking guy in a leather jacket. "Didn't realize you got a new zamboni." I chuckle and mentally high five myself at the smart ass remark I just made.

"Didn't realize you were such a smart ass. Derek." The rough and tough guy introduces and I laugh.

"Meredith. So what exactly are you doing here, since you're not a piece of heavy machinery?" I ask him.

"Using you as bait." He grins wickedly and gestures with his head to something behind me. Before I can even move, my arms are grabbed and pinned behind me. I whip my head around and grimace when I see Erica and Isaac. Except, much like Erica, this Isaac isn't the Isaac that I know. This Isaac is smirking down at me, a facial expression I've never seen him make before, and is clad in a leather jacket of his own.

"Isaac? What the hell are you doing here? Don't tell me you joined the leather jacket cult?"

"The jacket is just a perk of the job. That and getting to kidnap beautiful women." I flush slightly at his words before getting a grip.

"Why am I being used as 'bait?'" I quote.

"Because, Meredith, you're one of Scott's best friends. And you're the only one who doesn't have a clue about anything that's going on. He'll do anything to keep it that way." Derek procures my phone from his pocket and searches through the contacts.

"Stealing is a federal offense!" I yell in desperation as I try and wrench my arms out of Isaac and Erica's grips.

"So is having illegally downloaded music on your phone." He points out.

"One, don't look through my phone, that's just plain rude. And two, everyone does it!" Isaac and Erica must be taking steroids, I decide. There's no way that two pretty skinny people can hold me back like this.

"By the way, your mom texted. She wanted to know if you would be home for supper tonight." I roll my eyes.

"Well I would be if you two would just let me go!" I hiss. Derek puts my phone on speaker and I can hear the ringing.

"Meredith?" Scott's voice sounds from my phone. "Are you okay? You never call."

"Ooh, incorrect guess, Scott. Try again?" Derek laughs. I honestly feel like I'm in a movie or a book right now. This stuff isn't supposed to happen in a normal life. Then again, my life's been anything but normal since I moved back.

"Derek. What are you doing with Meredith's phone?" He asks.

"What, you didn't know that Meredith and I are best friends now?" Derek says sarcastically. "Isn't that right, Meredith?" Derek's holding the phone right by me now, and I scoff.

"Oh yeah, definitely. Hey Scott? I don't really know what's going on, but I'm apparently being used as bait, so will you please just 'take the bait', per se, so I can get the hell out of here, because this really isn't my idea of a fun Thursday night."

"Are you hurt?" I can hear how frantic he is through the phone.

"No, but I'm pretty sure Derek's ego is, amiright?" I smile widely at him as he rolls his eyes. "Seriously though, Isaac and Erica are fricking pinning my arms behind my back. Not the most comfortable position to be in, y'know?"

"See you soon, Scott." Derek hangs up the phone and tosses it across the ice.

"You better hope that didn't break." I comment, trying to move my shoulders.

"Send me a bill if it did." He doesn't mean it, that's obvious enough, and I slump forward, letting Isaac and Erica do all the work of standing.

Scott's really bad at rescuing people. We've all just been waiting for twenty minutes, with still no sign of him.

"So…." I trail, trying to think of something interesting to at least mildly fill the awkward silence. Thankfully, I don't have to search any longer, because Scott comes skidding onto the ice. Isaac and Erica both roughly jerk me up and I grimace.

"Meredith! Don't worry, I'm here!"

"My hero." I say dryly. Isaac stifles a laugh and I look up at him.

"What? It was funny!"

"Did Derek tell you everything? And I don't just mean going out of control on the full moons, I mean everything!" Scott asks Boyd. What is it with everyone and the full moon?

"He told me about the hunters." Boyd says finally. Hunters? Why would people be hunting other people?

"And that's not enough for you to say no." Scott concludes. "Whatever you want, there's other ways to get it-"

"I just want to not eat lunch alone every day." Boyd cuts him off. I thought he did that by choice, not because he didn't have friends!

"If you're looking for friends, you can do a lot better than Derek." I snort.

"Obviously. Look at how he treats his 'best friend.'" I butt in.

"That really hurt, Scott." Derek comes out of the shadows, like all good villains do, and puts a hand to his heart. "I mean, if you're going to review me, at least take a consensus."

"Way to use your big boy words, Derek." Erica elbows me in the side and I groan. "Wow, thanks so much. That felt really great, actually. Like a nice massage."

"Will you shut up!" Derek snaps. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing his speech. "Erica. How's life been for you since we met?"

"Hmm." Erica considers. "In a word; transformative." She suddenly releases a roar that definitely is not human, and I look at her to see actual, literal fangs protruding from her mouth. That's also not human, and I start to get severely scared.

"What the hell." I mutter.

"Isaac?" Derek goes on, apparently not caring that I just saw something that shouldn't even be happening.

"Well I'm a little bummed about being a fugitive but, other than that I'm great." Isaac says.

"You know, Scott. Three's a great number, but I think four would be even better. And since you're obviously not going to join us, I say we add a new member." Scott takes a cautious step forward.

"Derek, don't do this! She's innocent, she doesn't know anything!"

"Exactly. Meredith, how does it feel to be left out of secrets?"

"Um, not good, I guess? What's going on here, can someone please tell me?" I'm starting to get antsy. This isn't really a situation that I want to be caught in at the moment, especially since something, dare I say, supernatural, is going on here.

"What if I told you that all of your best friends have been keeping a secret from you, one that's bigger than you could ever imagine?"

"Um, I wouldn't believe you because you're the one that kidnapped me?" I giggle nervously. I can't help it, when I get anxious I start to laugh.

"I don't know, Scott, she'd make a very good one. She's strong, fierce, loyal. Why not?"

"Because I don't want to be a part of the leather jacket cult! I don't even like leather jackets!" I whine, trying to get away. This doesn't sound good at all, and the only thing I want is to get out of this ice rink. Derek walks up to me and stands so that we're eye to eye. He smiles slightly and suddenly, Derek's hazel eyes turn to a shimmering ruby.

"How are you doing this?" I ask. Derek shrugs.

"I'm the alpha." He starts moving closer and I scream, closing my eyes and hoping that this works. I swing my foot backwards and collide with someone's leg, dragging the blade of my skate down. Isaac lets out a shriek and releases my arm, clutching his now bleeding leg. I fall to the ice and reach for my stick, finally grabbing it and swinging it towards Erica. She catches it, but that's all I need. She slightly loosens her grip on my arm and I take the opportunity to shove her with my free hand. Once they're both away from me, I turn and hightail it towards Scott. He grabs me and swivels me so I'm behind him. Isaac is still roaring in pain, but his eyes are now a bright, glowing yellow and he has fangs as well.

"Scott?" I hiss. "You guys aren't human, are you?"

"We were trying to protect you." Neither pairs of eyes leave the four across the ice as I watch Isaac's six inch cut heal before my very eyes.

"That didn't do much, did it?"

"Not really. Meredith, I'll explain later, I promise." He looks at me, and I notice that his eyes are the same yellow as Isaac's. "But things are about to get dangerous and bad, very quickly. I need you to run, alright? Run, get in your car, and go home. I'll call you tonight, alright?"

"Is that a promise that whatever is going to happen means that you won't die?" I'm slowly slipping off my skates and grabbing my phone out of Scott's hand.

"I won't die, I promise you that." He smiles reassuringly at me. "When I say go, you run, okay?" I nod, unsure.

"Scott, I can help, if you need help."

"I can take them. I'm a match against them. You, however, are not. Please, just stay out of this."

"Alright." I say finally.

"Alright. Ready?" He starts moving forwards as I start moving backwards.

"Ready." Scott looks back at me once more, his face now decked out with fangs and claws instead of nails.

"Go!" I turn and sprint for the door, just barely catching my bag in my hands as I shove the doors open. I glance back one more time to see Scott and Isaac roaring at each other. I make it to my car okay and shove the keys in the ignition, peeling out of the parking lot with a screech. I drive wildly, not knowing exactly where I'm going, until I do know where I'm going.

I pull up beside the tree house in the woods where Stiles, Scott and I used to play for hours on end. It's old and rickety, built by people years before we found it, and hidden in a grove of trees. I clamber out of my car and up the rope ladder that's still there. Everything is the same as I left it. There's drawings, and card games, and Cheetos that have to be fossilized by now. I smile slightly at the three bean bag chairs facing each other before sitting on the green one, mine. And, even though I tell myself not too, because I'm sure Scott's fine, and everything's going to be okay, and there's no way that normal teenagers can have fangs, claws and glowing yellow eyes. Even though I tell myself not to do it, I cry anyways.

There's a number of things I know now. One, I hate leather jackets. Two, I'm probably not going to practice at the Beacon Hills Ice Rink ever again. Three, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble with my parents. Four, this town, and my friends, are definitely not human.


End file.
